Live Oak FL Funeral Homes
$20 OFF
Heart-felt tributes to honor a dear friend or loved one who has passed away
516 Howard Street East
Live Oak, FL 32064
(386) 362-4333
620 Houston Avenue Southwest
Live Oak, FL 32064
(386) 362-2672
Live Oak FL Obituaries and Death Notices
Monday, November 07, 2016There's a lot of history here," says Mark Reno, Janet's brother, who lives in a chickee hut in the backyard, screened from the main house by a thick grove of gumbo limbo and live oak trees.As he speaks, he gestures down the long porch, taking in the lush, green back yard that covers almost four acres. The tract was originally 21 acres, portions sold off to pay for the Reno children's college educations, including Janet's from Cornell University and Harvard Law School.He has been taking a group of reporters on an informal tour of the house during a party for Reno's 64th birthday. By the end of the party, Reno will be in the backyard playing volleyball in a dress competing against guests half her age."Have you seen this?" Mark Reno picks up a family photo album filled with shots taken by an old Brownie camera, showing Reno children against a backdrop of palm trees as they work on the house."See this one? That's Janny," he says. "And that one is Maggy, and there's me. Looking at these, you can chart the progress of the house."And with it, Reno's own path.‘No lying or cheating’The story of the house is well-known in South Florida:? How Reno's tough-willed and idiosyncratic mother, Jane Wood Reno, built the place almost single-handedly in the late '40s — digging the foundation, laying the bricks, wiring the walls — and teaching her four children the power of determination and hard work.? How she paid for the building, $25 at a time, and learned constructions skills at the same time by writing house-of-the-week feature stories for the Miami News under the male pseudonym Hal Hand. The topic depended on her needs. House needed wiring? She wrote a story involving an electrician. Woodworking? The next story would include a carpenter.? And how she built her house to last, teaching her children not to fear the ferocious hurricanes that are so much a part of life in Florida, but to respect them."Nobody was ever panicked when they talked about hurricanes when we were children," remembers Maggy Hurchalla, Reno's younger sister and a former Martin County commissioner for 10 years. "They just talked about 'em as a fact of life in Florida. So we grew up with that attitude."They also absorbed the can-do style of their mother who made the decision to build the house with no construction experience."We had outgrown the house we were in, so she decided we needed a new one. She did it all except pour the slab," Reno says today, "because that was the one thing she thought that if she made a mistake, she couldn't fix it."Reno says she helped shingle the roof and she could still get up there and fix it if necessary. "But I don't put myself in the same category as my mother."Those who doubt the oft-repeated tale of the construction meet with blistering response from Hurchalla."Now that just makes me mad," Hurchalla says. "I was there when Mother dug the foundation. I was there when she wired the house. I helped lay the bricks. We all did. I'm an eyewitness, and I know it's true."She says the Reno children's uninhibited upbringing has been exaggerated over the years — but not by much.While the Renos weren't alligator wrestlers, as some have reported, they were taught by a family friend how to to put alligators to sleep, she says."You just put them on their backs. We all know how," Hurchalla says. "Even Mother. But you only do it with th...
Monday, October 17, 2016Friday, October 14th 6:00-8:00pm Harrell Funeral Home, Kyle, Texas. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday October 15 at Harrell Funeral Home in Kyle, Texas. Procession to follow to Live Oak Cemetery. Celebration of Life to follow at the Odell Residence. 110 Montgomery Ct. Buda, 78610.
Monday, October 03, 2016A tiny gathering under a live oak tree on Fifth Avenue in Conway in 1866 sprouted roots for a church that today is home to a membership of 600.Growing from humble beginnings, Conway’s First Baptist Church now covers several city blocks and is celebrating its sesquicentennial with a full slate of activities on Sunday that will include tours of its Heritage Room, a showcase of historic items, and Wall of Memories, a special series of old photos depicting the church’s history and membership.Senior pastor Robert “Bob” Guffey said as the church prepares to celebrate its 150-year history, treasures from the past help inform the character and spirit of the present.“Like people, churches have a kind of DNA of character and spirit,” Guffey said.Sunday will be a day of celebration and remembrance, starting with an 8:15 brunch with two living former pastors, the Rev. Steve Hadden of Kentucky and the Rev. Andy Bass of Greenville. Many former members are expected to return for a blended worship service at 10:30 a.m. featur...
Live Oak News
Monday, November 07, 2016There's a lot of history here," says Mark Reno, Janet's brother, who lives in a chickee hut in the backyard, screened from the main house by a thick grove of gumbo limbo and live oak trees.As he speaks, he gestures down the long porch, taking in the lush, green back yard that covers almost four acres. The tract was originally 21 acres, portions sold off to pay for the Reno children's college educations, including Janet's from Cornell University and Harvard Law School.He has been taking a group of reporters on an informal tour of the house during a party for Reno's 64th birthday. By the end of the party, Reno will be in the backyard playing volleyball in a dress competing against guests half her age."Have you seen this?" Mark Reno picks up a family photo album filled with shots taken by an old Brownie camera, showing Reno children against a backdrop of palm trees as they work on the house."See this one? That's Janny," he says. "And that one is Maggy, and there's me. Looking at these, you can chart the progress of the house."And with it, Reno's own path.‘No lying or cheating’The story of the house is well-known in South Florida:? How Reno's tough-willed and idiosyncratic mother, Jane Wood Reno, built the place almost single-handedly in the late '40s — digging the foundation, laying the bricks, wiring the walls — and teaching her four children the power of determination and hard work.? How she paid for the building, $25 at a time, and learned constructions skills at the same time by writing house-of-the-week feature stories for the Miami News under the male pseudonym Hal Hand. The topic depended on her needs. House needed wiring? She wrote a story involving an electrician. Woodworking? The next story would include a carpenter.? And how she built her house to last, teaching her children not to fear the ferocious hurricanes that are so much a part of life in Florida, but to respect them."Nobody was ever panicked when they talked about hurricanes when we were children," remembers Maggy Hurchalla, Reno's younger sister and a former Martin County commissioner for 10 years. "They just talked about 'em as a fact of life in Florida. So we grew up with that attitude."They also absorbed the can-do style of their mother who made the decision to build the house with no construction experience."We had outgrown the house we were in, so she decided we needed a new one. She did it all except pour the slab," Reno says today, "because that was the one thing she thought that if she made a mistake, she couldn't fix it."Reno says she helped shingle the roof and she could still get up there and fix it if necessary. "But I don't put myself in the same category as my mother."Those who doubt the oft-repeated tale of the construction meet with blistering response from Hurchalla."Now that just makes me mad," Hurchalla says. "I was there when Mother dug the foundation. I was there when she wired the house. I helped lay the bricks. We all did. I'm an eyewitness, and I know it's true."She says the Reno children's uninhibited upbringing has been exaggerated over the years — but not by much.While the Renos weren't alligator wrestlers, as some have reported, they were taught by a family friend how to to put alligators to sleep, she says."You just put them on their backs. We all know how," Hurchalla says. "Even Mother. But you only do it with th...
Monday, October 17, 2016Friday, October 14th 6:00-8:00pm Harrell Funeral Home, Kyle, Texas. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday October 15 at Harrell Funeral Home in Kyle, Texas. Procession to follow to Live Oak Cemetery. Celebration of Life to follow at the Odell Residence. 110 Montgomery Ct. Buda, 78610.
Monday, October 03, 2016A tiny gathering under a live oak tree on Fifth Avenue in Conway in 1866 sprouted roots for a church that today is home to a membership of 600.Growing from humble beginnings, Conway’s First Baptist Church now covers several city blocks and is celebrating its sesquicentennial with a full slate of activities on Sunday that will include tours of its Heritage Room, a showcase of historic items, and Wall of Memories, a special series of old photos depicting the church’s history and membership.Senior pastor Robert “Bob” Guffey said as the church prepares to celebrate its 150-year history, treasures from the past help inform the character and spirit of the present.“Like people, churches have a kind of DNA of character and spirit,” Guffey said.Sunday will be a day of celebration and remembrance, starting with an 8:15 brunch with two living former pastors, the Rev. Steve Hadden of Kentucky and the Rev. Andy Bass of Greenville. Many former members are expected to return for a blended worship service at 10:30 a.m. featur...
